For the monumental 100th post on Blogspot, the Crappafoni Pictures crew is in the mountains of eastern Pennsylvania to bring you this week's edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, served up with Philly cheesesteaks and fries and washed down with copious amounts of Coke Zero. Enjoy!
THE GOOD
Greg Biffle: as the race winner, he gets first billing. At the beginning of the race, he looked like he had a 20th-place car at best. But as the race went on, the 16 crew kept getting the car better and better. Kudos to Biff for making two-tire stops work, as they usually don't. What really helped him was the last red flag for rain, cooling down the track. The 16 car came to life after that. He took two tires on the last pit stop, and checked out after passing Sam Hornish Jr on the last restart. Props to Biff for breaking a 65-race winless streak dating back to September 2008, when he won at Dover. The win was Ford's first of the season.
Tony Stewart: he won the pole but was immediately passed by Jeff Gordon at the start of the race. He did lead a lap under the first round of green flag pit stops. Like Biffle, he was better as the track got cooler. He took four tires on the last pit stop and made up eight positions on the track, but Biffle was so much better.
Carl Edwards: he could be the next Ford driver to win, as he's been showing the form that made him a threat to win every week in 2008, regardless of the track. He led a lap under the second round of green flag pit stops (he has led six laps so far this year, and still trails Mattias Eckstrom, who led once for eight laps in Sonoma, and he led as many laps as JJ Yeley today). He started way back in 25th, and immediately worked his way towards the front, eventually finishing third, and able to hold off Kevin Harvick at the end. (Note to Carl: Kevin could have EASILY dumped you at ANY time, but didn't. That should show you he's a CLEAN driver.)
Kevin Harvick: the points leader had a pretty decent qualifying run (he qualified 14th). For the first half of the race, he was hanging from positions 12-16. But once he moved into the top 10, he stayed there. He was running as high as third at one point. His fourth place finish marked his fourth top 10 finish at the track, and his second straight fourth place finish there. (He also finished in the top 10 in both Pocono races in his rookie season of 2001.) Harvick actually increased his points lead by five; he now leads Jeff Gordon by 189 points.
Denny Hamlin: the modern-day Master of Pocono at one point looked like he was going to win his FIFTH Pocono race in his last 10. I bet he wishes Pocono was on the schedule every week! He actually increased his points margin over fourth place Jimmie Johnson to 17 points.
Jimmie Johnson: he was stout enough to lead the most laps in the race (98). He qualified sixth and it took him no time to get to the front. He stayed there for the first half of the race. It's the second half that bit him in the butt.
Honorable Mention: Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Martin Truex, Jr., and Sam Hornish, Jr.
THE BAD
Michael McDowell: he was the first of the start and parkers, declaring himself done after completing 23 laps. (Dave Blaney went out a lap later.)
Marcos Ambrose: I hate putting the likeable Aussie in here, but today I must. He qualified 19th, a decent starting position, but quickly went backwards. The news that he was leaving JTG-Daugherty Racing for RPM could have had an effect on the team. Was it coincidence that Ambrose's engine expired early because of his imminent departure? I'm just saying.
P.J. Jones: he was parked by NASCAR for going too slow after 63 laps. At least he completed a quarter of the race! (At Sonoma in 2009, he parked it after TWO laps!) Had Robby Gordon been behind the wheel, he'd have given it an HONEST effort. If you look in the dictionary under "start and parker", P.J. Jones' face can be seen. I cringe when he's in the field because I know he'll beat everyone to the post-race Cupcake display.
THE UGLY
Elliott Sadler: he was involved in one of the most horrific crashes I've seen in quite awhile. The only angle that showed was Sadler's car slamming into a grass berm before the entrance to Turn 3. The crash was so brutal, the engine was ripped from the car like a piece of paper. A Good to NASCAR for its implementation of safety innovations in the new car, and for Sadler escaping with only bruises.
Jimmie Johnson: I've got to put him in this category for starting a crash that took out a good car in Kurt Busch's and in the ensuing melee, for putting Sadler's car into that grass berm. What was he doing trying to draft bump Busch with Clint Bowyer to Busch's right? He flat out wrecked Kurt AGAIN. Plain and simple.
ESPN: MUST we be subject to their blathering on during a rain delay? And do us a favor: institute the split-screen during commercials, like you do during the Indy 500! And STOP with the overhyping of Chris Berman getting the Pete Rozelle Award! His act is old and tired anyway! (Rant over.)
Those are my nominees for the race. Feel free to come in with yours!
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6 comments:
and so, as I stated earlier, the question becomes who's more idiotic at trying to bump someone; Carl or Jimmie?
My vote is for Jimmie since he has a full three seasons' more experience over Carl and should dang well know better given his boss is always crying over bumpdrafting whenever we get to the plate tracks.
I was actualy asleep when Sadler almost disintigrated into a musharoom cloud. When I awoke, the cars were parked on the track, and ESPN was showing replays. I was so releived that Elliot was ok. Glad to see the Biff win again, and Happy get another top 5!
Good one Jon.
I'm with you on the cheesesteak brother. Didn't catch the race, I was too busy with the honeydos, but thanks for the great breakdown.
A big, bad, ugly to NASCAR for sanctioning races at that outdated pile of scrap called Pocono!
How many times have we seen cars bouncing, flipping, disintegrating through that hilly, grassy area along the backstretch?
They should not be allowed to hold another event there until that area is paved, or at least graded flat. And the guardrail straightened, and replaced with SAFER barrier,
I concur with Gene... Did you see the absolute worthless condition of that track surface? If they can get away with that then the least Pocono's owners could do is to put up safer barriers on the inside as well as outside fencing.
It took the Cat in the Hat to almost get killed to motivate his drivers... Jack that's a hell of a motivation tool!
Thanks Jon!
Tez, I'm with ya there! Only Carl's is more blatant and directly affects the championship. (See: Talladega, October 2008.) But yeah, they're trying to out-idiot each other!
CR, if this HAD happened 5-6 years ago (when Sadler was just starting out), he WOULD have disintegrated into that mushroom cloud. We'd be talking about Sadler's funeral. But thank GOD for the safety implementations on the car. Now if only Pocono could do the same. Good to see Biff win again. It was a long time coming. Better him than Carl. At this pace, Happy could clinch at Michigan.
Hey aero! Thanks! My mouth was watering at the thought of cheesesteak! I'm glad to break the race down.
Gene, that SHOULD be the clarion call for Pocono to lose a race, and have the other race reduced to 400 miles. Personally, it wouldn't hurt me if they lost BOTH races. Have a 300 mile Nationwide race AFTER the track is repaved, and safety improvements are done to the track.
Dwindy, it was APPALLING. If I were the head honcho at Pocono, improvements would have started TODAY, starting with repaving the ENTIRE track surface. Then put SAFER barriers all around the inside of the track. Knock down that grass berm and replace the backstretch grass with pavement!
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